1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure generally relates to cookware and methods of cooking, and more particularly, to cookware that utilize active material actuation to autonomously rotate a food engaging surface.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
There is a long felt need to evenly cook food in preparation for consumption. Due to temperature variations within cooking spaces, however, uneven cooking remains a concern in the art. For example, where a first portion of the food is constantly exposed to a region near the heat source, it may experience a greater than mean temperature, while a second portion constantly exposed to another region, e.g., remote from the source and/or near ambient conditions, experiences a lesser than mean temperature. A practice of flipping or turning the food manually has long been developed, but this typically results in a loss of heat energy. Moreover, the requirement of manual labor exposes the operator to the high temperatures and hot surfaces of the cooking space. As a result, rotatable cookware have more recently been developed to rotate food within the cooking space, either horizontally or vertically, so that the portions of the food are alternatively exposed to the variable temperatures of the space. Even where uniform temperature is provided, this method of cooking is used to facilitate basting and cooking certain food items in their own juices. Concernedly, however, conventionally rotatable cookware may also require manual labor, or where autonomous, feature an electro-mechanical actuator that consumes additional energy, and introduces a plurality of moving parts into the cooking space.